Click images to view larger versions

2008 Callaway C16

It's not from Mars, but the new Callaway C16 Speedster does deliver a blast that's out of this world. C16 Speedster seems a wholly inadequate moniker for this latest Corvette-based creation from Scuderia Reeves Callaway. Millennium Falcon is closer to the mark. Or may be Atomic Rooster. We need one of the ballyhoo artists from Jerry Bruckheimer Films to give this topless, windowless, two-seat UFO a proper name. One look at the pictures and you'll understand. Threatening to burst right through that impudent hood bulge is an all-alloy, 6.2-litre V-8 (the new LS3 from the 2008 Vette) that's force-fed 10 psi of boost via a three-lobe, Roots-style Eaton supercharger and an air-water intercooler-yielding 700 horsepower at 6200 rpm and 660 pound-feet of torque at 4750. Callaway says the Speedster will do 0-60 mph in a mere 3.2 seconds and blaze the quarter in just under 11 seconds at 128 mph. Claimed top speed: more than 210 mph. Lift your jaw off the floor; there's more. If you want to fly a Speedster of your very own, you'll need to cough up $305,000 before tax.

BMW CONCEPT CS

BMW pulled a surprise with its latest creation, a Gran Turismo-styled vehicle called the Concept CS. Clearly, there's plenty of Bangle in the new design, with flame surfacing and a version of the now famous rear end treatment, along some heritage features such as the return of the 'shark nose' front end. BMW says the CS sports potential new design themes which the automaker says signal the next step in what its design language could look like.

2007 Ariel Atom
Atom 2s, the US version of the Ariel Atom first produced in England by the Ariel Motor Company, are street-legal, track-day sports cars produced by Brammo, Inc. of Ashland, Oregon, an official Ariel Atom licensee. Comparisons with Formula race cars are apt. An open framework of MIG-welded, large-diameter steel tubing gives spectacular views of the unequal-length A-arm suspension right from the driver's seat.

Chevrolet Malibu

Meet the poster-child for the automotive truth that good design doesn't cost any more than bad design. Chevrolet replaces the Malibu with a car that sweeps out all those ungainly 2007 Malibus and Maxxes in November with a car on the Maxx's longer, 112.3-inch-wheelbase, a mild-hybrid version, and more emphasis placed on the four-cylinder engine Ð a 164-horsepower, 2.4-litre Ecotec, the latest iteration of the Epsilon platform and quality improvement programme.